Our Work and God’s Work--March 10, 2022

[From Feb. 25, 2010 archive]

 

Lord, some bear the seed for sowing,

some come home carrying the sheaves.

 

You have given each of us each work to do, and

each of us must trust others to complete the work.

 

Sometimes it is ours to lay the foundation,

sometimes to complete what others started;

 

but the task goes well only if we do it 

according to the grace you have given us.

 

Like Joseph, Paul, or the four who carried the paralytic—

we need you, O God, to prosper and complete the work.

 

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 27; 147:12-20; 126; 102

Gen. 39:1-23

1 Cor. 2:14-3:15

Mark 2:1-12

 

Selected Verses 

Ps. 126:3

The LORD has done great things for us,
          and we rejoiced.

 

Gen. 39:3

[Joseph’s] master saw that the LORD was with him, and that the LORD caused all that he did to prosper in his hands. 

 

1 Cor. 3:7

So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.

 

Mark 2:12

And [the paralytic] stood up, and immediately took the mat and went out before all of them; so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”